That Ray Rice Video Made Someone a Lot of Money

Can you believe it’s been two years since Ray Rice punched his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in an elevator, igniting a storm of controversy?

How time flies. In any case, this week readers of the New Yorker learned a little bit more about how the video showing the assault made its way to the internet in an article about gossip website TMZ. Apparently, TMZ paid $15,000 for footage of Rice dragging Palmer out of the elevator, and then “almost ninety thousand dollars” for video of the punch itself.

The incident was recorded on several security cameras at the casino where the assault took place; according to the New Yorker, a security officer surreptitiously filmed the footage with a phone, then sold it to TMZ. The casino has not been able to determine which employee was responsible. The scoop got TMZ’s founder and executive producer named to Sports Business Daily’s list of the 50 most influential people in sports; the Rice video, that site said, was “Watergate-esque.”